Xmas Lights - Seriously Unimpressed

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

I finally got around to shopping at Fry's, after abstaining for three
months(!)

Excuses? Oh, I ranted here about Best Buy this morning and how they
were selling 6' USB cables for $27.00 to $32.00. Well, I decided I
might as well go over to Fry's and buy a couple, to see how much they
cost. They're in the $7 to $9 range, as I had expected. I found that I
could get them for even cheaper on Ebay. With a couple bucks for
shipping, they're still under $5, and that's buy it now, not biddding;
if you bid, you can get them for a couple dollars. And the sellers are
still making money on them.

Which leads me to believe that the shysters at Best Buy are probably
paying a price per cable that's below a dollar, including the packaging.
So at $27, they're marking up the price over 2000%, more like 3000%!!!

Anyway, back to reality, I took a look at the 'new' LED xmas tree lights
that they had for $10 to $15 at Fry's. I was seriously unimpressed by
them; they weren't very bright, and they had that characteristic flicker
of half-wave rectified 60 Hz. Each 'bulb' is actually a solid colored
plastic diffuser to get the LED in its base to shine the light in all
directions. I guess that's why they're not so bright.

I stopped by wal-mart and I forgot to check to see if they had the
lights and what the price might be. But after seeing that PBS prog "Is
Wal-mart good for America?" I'm not so sure I want to do business with
them any more. I left the store without even buying anything this time.

I'll have to check on the 'Net to see if they're available at some
websites, and maybe Ebay. Check back later for updates. ;-)



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[Richard Crowley]

"Watson A.Name wrote ...

I stopped by wal-mart and I forgot to check to see if they
had the lights and what the price might be. But after seeing
that PBS prog "Is Wal-mart good for America?" I'm not so
sure I want to do business with them any more. I left the
store without even buying anything this time.

LOL. Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"? If they did a documentary on how the sun
rises in the east I would feel compelled to double check their
facts and question their motivation.

 

[Nicholas O. Lindan]

Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"?

If one is a beggar there is no room for self-respect and
high moral position.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

"Watson A.Name wrote ...

I stopped by wal-mart and I forgot to check to see if they
had the lights and what the price might be. But after seeing
that PBS prog "Is Wal-mart good for America?" I'm not so
sure I want to do business with them any more. I left the
store without even buying anything this time.

LOL. Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"? If they did a documentary on how the sun
rises in the east I would feel compelled to double check their
facts and question their motivation.

Huh? Isn't that just what I said?

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"?

If one is a beggar there is no room for self-respect and
high moral position.

Beggars practice self-deception. So there's plenty of room.

 

[Peter A Forbes]

Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"?

If one is a beggar there is no room for self-respect and
high moral position.

I wouldn't agree with that, I have seen plenty of people who retained their
dignity and respect, even though they were in a pretty bad way. You don't have
to throw that away necessarily.

'Corporately' things might be different...

Peter

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

I finally got around to shopping at Fry's, after abstaining for three
months(!)

Excuses? Oh, I ranted here about Best Buy this morning and how they
were selling 6' USB cables for $27.00 to $32.00. Well, I decided I
might as well go over to Fry's and buy a couple, to see how much they
cost. They're in the $7 to $9 range, as I had expected. I found that I
could get them for even cheaper on Ebay. With a couple bucks for
shipping, they're still under $5, and that's buy it now, not biddding;
if you bid, you can get them for a couple dollars. And the sellers are
still making money on them.

Which leads me to believe that the shysters at Best Buy are probably
paying a price per cable that's below a dollar, including the packaging.
So at $27, they're marking up the price over 2000%, more like 3000%!!!

Anyway, back to reality, I took a look at the 'new' LED xmas tree lights
that they had for $10 to $15 at Fry's. I was seriously unimpressed by
them; they weren't very bright, and they had that characteristic flicker
of half-wave rectified 60 Hz. Each 'bulb' is actually a solid colored
plastic diffuser to get the LED in its base to shine the light in all
directions. I guess that's why they're not so bright.

I stopped by wal-mart and I forgot to check to see if they had the
lights and what the price might be. But after seeing that PBS prog "Is
Wal-mart good for America?" I'm not so sure I want to do business with
them any more. I left the store without even buying anything this time.

I'll have to check on the 'Net to see if they're available at some
websites, and maybe Ebay. Check back later for updates. ;-)

Mssrs. Crowley and Linden are trying their best to bastardize the thread
with some discussion about PBS sponsors. Maybe they're too immersed in
politics to think about other things, like what I'm talking about that's
on-topic. So I'll just say that I should've mentioned Fry's wanted $60
for a Triton "Warp Drive" USB 2.0 HDD enclosure with 6-in-1 card reader
and USB 2.0 hub built-in. But I found it on Ebay for half that price
(buy it now), or even cheaper with bidding. I should've checked the
details like what shipping and stuff cost, but all of a sudden the PC
rebooted, I'm not sure why. I didn't see the lights flicker, but it's
raining and windy and I would guess that caused a very momentary
interruption in power. So, i'll have to try again.

I looked, and it's ten bucks shipping, The doofus sellers call it
'Tritton' but if you look on the package it says Triton Technologies,
not Tritton. Searching for warp drive USB might be best. I think the
next one I'll be getting will have fire wire, because most of the PCs
are still only USB 1.1.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"?

If one is a beggar there is no room for self-respect and
high moral position.

Beggars promise nothing in return for the money, so they have room for
self-respect and high moral position. Consider organized religion, for
example. Politicians, prostitutes and even employees have rather less
room.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" wrote...

"Watson A.Name wrote ...
I stopped by wal-mart and I forgot to check to see if they
had the lights and what the price might be. But after seeing
that PBS prog "Is Wal-mart good for America?" I'm not so
sure I want to do business with them any more. I left the
store without even buying anything this time.

LOL. Have you ever seen "Is [name of major PBS underwriter]
Good for America"? If they did a documentary on how the sun
rises in the east I would feel compelled to double check their
facts and question their motivation.

Huh? Isn't that just what I said?

No, you implied that you gave PBS some amount of credibility.

Have _you_ ever seen that particular program? I'd say they gave a
balanced view, with both pros and cons. They did give some factual
figures, such as that wal-mart had some very substantial percentagee of
the goods coming into the port from China. I'm not certain but I think
it was 40. Here are some more figures.
http://www.anitaroddick.com/weblog/weblogdetail.jsp?title=Human Rights
&id=702

This article says 10% of the total.
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/wal-mart.html

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

time.


We don't have Wal-marts here in correctland, but I went to one for my
first time while visiting The Brat at college. I thought it was
great... lots of stuff, great prices, and very friendly people
everywhere to help you find things. I bought four pairs of great
velcro shoes for $14 per pair.

Why do people keep tying shoes? What an anachronism! Shoelaces waste
time, are unreliable, and look silly.

?? Really? Ok, I've never had velcro shoes. But I've never had those
kinds of complaints with laces. I've noticed that the kids of today
don't know much about a lotta things, like shoelaces, and the big hand
and little hand on clocks. Or where potatoes come from. I guess as
they grow up, they'll get over it and learn.

 

[Bob G.]

Have _you_ ever seen that particular program? I'd say they gave a
balanced view, with both pros and cons. They did give some factual
figures, such as that wal-mart had some very substantial percentagee of
the goods coming into the port from China.

It's called "Frontline" It's the PBS equivalent of "Dateline" or any of
the other "..line" hard hitting news expose programs - with the expected bias
and truth bending to make their point. This one was especially good, and it had
the same impact on me - I won't shop at Wally World, but the other stores are
selling the same foreign crap, so what can you do except stop buying all of it.
Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I particularly liked the trade deficit numbers
quoted. No surprise there.




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[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

It's called "Frontline" It's the PBS equivalent of "Dateline" or any of
the other "..line" hard hitting news expose programs - with the expected bias
and truth bending to make their point. This one was especially good, and it had
the same impact on me - I won't shop at Wally World, but the other stores are
selling the same foreign crap, so what can you do except stop buying all of it.
Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I particularly liked the trade deficit numbers
quoted. No surprise there.

The program and the URLs I gave showed the cheap China imports problem
isn't the only. or even the major problem with Wal-mart. The problems
are that they are under employing people - below poverty level wages -
and they make it impossible for most workers to afford health benefits.
And to top it off, the supercenters devastate neighborhoods by
undercutting the mom-and-pop stores, thereby chasing them out.

This isn't bias and truth bending. The facts and figures are there.

 

[repatch]

The program and the URLs I gave showed the cheap China imports problem
isn't the only. or even the major problem with Wal-mart. The problems are
that they are under employing people - below poverty level wages - and
they make it impossible for most workers to afford health benefits. And to
top it off, the supercenters devastate neighborhoods by undercutting the
mom-and-pop stores, thereby chasing them out.

This isn't bias and truth bending. The facts and figures are there.

If somebody shoots someone with a gun who do you blame: the person who
pulled the trigger, or the gun?

Walmart is only doing what the CONSUMERS want. If consumers want low
prices Walmart will give it to them.

Do you REALLY think that if Walmart DIDN'T do it noone else would?

That is what capitalism IS, live with it.

 

[Robert Monsen]

expected bias


and it had


stores are


all of it.



The program and the URLs I gave showed the cheap China imports problem
isn't the only. or even the major problem with Wal-mart. The problems
are that they are under employing people - below poverty level wages -
and they make it impossible for most workers to afford health benefits.
And to top it off, the supercenters devastate neighborhoods by
undercutting the mom-and-pop stores, thereby chasing them out.

This isn't bias and truth bending. The facts and figures are there.

Well, that's a fairly "Reality Based" view of things... Watt, haven't
you learned that 2+2=5? I expect you are in for a visit from the
ministry of truth.

Karl Marx pointed out that the ultimate stage of capitalism is the
reduction of all social and human values to a numeric figure, its
monetary value. Economic worth becomes the only criterion by which we
can compare and judge the value of a thing, because economic worth is
the metric of worth to the society, as opposed to its worth to an
individual. Were he alive today, he might say that the existence of Wall
Mart is simply a playing out of the forces that were put into play
during the feudalism of the middle ages.

In the meantime, those prices just keep rolling back!

--
Regards,
Robert Monsen

"Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis."
- Pierre Laplace (1749-1827), to Napoleon,
on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God.

 

[JeffM]

you gave PBS some amount of credibility

Richard Crowley

If Watt Sun won't, I will.
Investigative reporting by commercial television broadcasters
is mush and has been for about a decade.
Even 60 Minutes is half pop-culture junk now.

If you want to see television that doesn't bend over for corporations,
PBS is the last bastion--Bill Moyers and Frontline,
The NewsHour has softened a bit.

 

[JeffM]

the cheap China imports problem isn't the only

--or even the major problem with Wal-mart.
The problems are that they are under employing people
- below poverty level wages -
and they make it impossible for most workers to afford health benefits.
And to top it off, the supercenters devastate neighborhoods
by undercutting the mom-and-pop stores, thereby chasing them out.
Watt Sun

This presentation didn't even mention the way when one township rejects them
they go to the low-rent district that abuts the town and set up there.
The get a sweetheart deal on tax breaks with the hard-pressed city gov't there.
When the tax breaks run out, they pull up stakes and find a new bunch of suckers,
leaving in their wake a town devoid of Mom & Pop businesses.

 

[JeffM]

I'm getting really tired of leftist politics tainting Usenet.

Richard Crowley

Typical NeoCon-think. Job loss and trade imbalance are Leftist issues.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

If somebody shoots someone with a gun who do you blame: the person who
pulled the trigger, or the gun?

??? We're talking about something else.

Walmart is only doing what the CONSUMERS want. If consumers want low
prices Walmart will give it to them.

Do you REALLY think that if Walmart DIDN'T do it noone else would?

That is what capitalism IS, live with it.

I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to remember the first
time ('70s) the Japanese (Matsushita) dumped TVs on the american market
and put most of the domestic TV makers out of business. And don't give
me that BS about "live with it". The Japanese gov't found them guilty
of dumping, and they were fined $150 million. Yeah, $150 million.
That's not something any competing ompany should have to "live with".

This time, the Japanes are getting some of their own medicine. The
Chinese are dumping TVs onto the Japanese market and putting a lot of
pressure on the Japanese domestic TV makers to cut their prices to be
competitive.

But the U.S. Int'l Trade Commission has found the Chinese TV makers
guilty of dumping, and now imposes a tariff on each TV set. That's
again not a case of doing what the consumers want, dumping is a case of
doing what the competitors can't compete against. You don't seem to see
the forest for the trees.
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20040419-21.html

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

If Watt Sun won't, I will.
Investigative reporting by commercial television broadcasters
is mush and has been for about a decade.
Even 60 Minutes is half pop-culture junk now.

If you want to see television that doesn't bend over for corporations,
PBS is the last bastion--Bill Moyers and Frontline,
The NewsHour has softened a bit.

"Now, with Bill Moyers" (and David Bronwhateverhisnameis).

 

[Robert Monsen]

"Now, with Bill Moyers" (and David Bronwhateverhisnameis).

That's David (man he looks like Michaelangelo's David) Brancaccio. He
used to do Marketplace for NPR. Looks like old Bill's gonna retire in
Dec, and David is going to carry the flame for the left.

--
Regards,
Robert Monsen

"Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis."
- Pierre Laplace (1749-1827), to Napoleon,
on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God.